Mapping the Landscape of Post-Traumatic Growth Research: a Global Bibliometric and Science Mapping Analysis

Abstract

Post-traumatic growth (PTG) is an important concept that explains the positive psychological transformations individuals experience after serious traumatic experiences. Despite the recent increase in scientific interest in this field, the structural and thematic development of the PTG literature has not been systematically examined. This study analyzes PTG-focused scientific publications from 1980 to 2025 using bibliometric methods to reveal publication productivity, intellectual structure, international collaborations, and thematic trends in the field. The data were obtained from the Web of Science database and analyzed using science-mapping techniques in RStudio. The findings show that publication production increased significantly after 2004, with citation counts peaking between 2015 and 2022. Co-citation analyses reveal that founding figures such as Tedeschi and Calhoun occupy a central position in the field. At the same time, thematic maps show that concepts such as “post traumatic stress” and “meta-analysis” indicate methodological diversity. Additionally, countries such as the US, China, and the UK are seen as leaders in terms of publications and collaboration, while regions such as Africa and South America are underrepresented. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of PTSD research from historical and thematic perspectives, offering an important roadmap for future research.